Editorial Guidelines

How We Evaluate HR Tech Vendors

There are more than 30,000 software vendors in the HR, Recruiting, and PeopleOps ecosystem, and it's our job to understand which ones we should recommend to our readers. We use strict criteria, so the tools we review are high value to our readership of HR and TA leaders

Why do we only suggest best-in-class vendors?

We cut through the noise so you can consider great solutions from the get-go. If you see a software solution on our website, it’s a good one to consider for your organization.

Our Criteria

We identify market leaders by conducting our own research. We talk directly to vendors, test drive solutions, and listen to recommendations from HR experts. Beyond the product, we also examine a vendor’s customer count, revenues, profitability, and overall trajectory. These are all qualifiers of a reliable solution with good product-market fit.

Generally, we discount vendors who are super niche by geography, industry, or product. Our focus is to help companies find core HR software solutions and tools that are big enough to provide universal accessibility, integration, and a strong customer experience.

Vendor Research

Once we've decided to review a vendor, we talk to them, do demos, work with trial versions, and gather feedback from users. When speaking to vendors, we typically have the advantage of access to executives who lead the product and marketing decisions. This allows us to ask more detailed questions than the average account manager can answer.

Here are some things we look at during vendor research:

How useful the tool is: We test for usability, helpfulness, and value. We don’t base our opinion on the pitch alone.
The user interface: We put ourselves in your shoes and ask, “Will my employees and I like using this tool? Is it intuitive? Why would we keep using it?”
Customer retention: We want to know how retention stacks up to the competition, and why (and if!) people stick with the tool. Customers stay with good products.
Rule of 40: We work with companies headed for success. The rule of 40 is a quick way to know the health of a business's finances — the growth + net margin should be >40%
Scale: If a software product is good, more people will buy it. We don't feel comfortable recommending companies without a minimum amount of scale.
Recommendations: We only consider the opinions of other experts. Even with a solid recommendation from one of our few trusted sources, we make up our own minds.

Our Software Review Process

Step 1. Continually research established and new solutions on the market

Step 2. Determine the best-in-class vendors

Step 3. Consult with industry experts

Step 4. Book demos, talk to vendors, and test trial versions

Step 5. Write unbiased, easy-to-read reviews on features and functionality

Step 6. Continually evolve our reviews with expert feedback and further research

You can read our buyer guides here.

How We Write the SSR Blog

The purpose of the SSR blog is to make HR leaders and workers smarter about HR Tech, People Ops, and Recruitment by sharing insights from really smart people. We collaborate with eminent thought leaders and experts who share their knowledge willingly.

To control for bias, our HR and HR Tech writers peer review one another’s articles. This ensures the information you read is not simply the opinion of one, but represents multiple viewpoints and current industry knowledge.

As editors and publishers of truly valuable content we:

Only allow claims that are backed by the writer's research, personal experience, or a reputable source.
Create content that is new, not a rehashed version of what you’ve already read.
Reject articles that include outright or conceptual plagiarism.
Do not tolerate bias or discrimination in any form.

For questions about our content, or to enquire about being an expert contributor, please reach out to our editorial team at [email protected].